Toyota is developing a new engine that runs on water — yes, water — which if successful, will be a radical game changer.
At the start of the 20th Century, northern white rhinos were a common site on the savannahs of eastern and central Africa, but then poaching, habitat destruction and armed conflict caused populations to crash.
By the 1980s, there were just 15 animals left in the wild. When they died, conservationists hoped that the small number of animals left in captivity would be able to kickstart the population, but the rhinos didn’t get the memo. Northern white rhinos don’t breed well in captivity, and the last male, known as Sudan, died in 2018.
However, before the final few males died, Hildebrandt and colleagues started to collect and freeze their semen.
Joseph Gatt The last two northern white rhinos left in the world, both females.
The US has approved use of the world's first vaccine for honey bees. As pollinators, bees play a critical role in many aspects of the ecosystem. The vaccine could serve as a "breakthrough in protecting honey bees", Dalan Animal Health CEO Annette Kleiser said in a statement.
American scientists have just made a Nuclear Fusion breakthrough
Scientists announced a major breakthrough that could lead to "basically unlimited" carbon-free energy.
Peter Azzopardi Early days! Took the image from the article linked below.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/12/13/national-ignition-facility-exceeds-break-even-nuclear-fusion/
Can floating turbines harvest the world's wind?
The solution sounds obvious —installing turbines on floating platforms — but imagine for a moment the fearsome forces these structures must withstand.
Yet the turbines at the Kincardine wind farm are standing tall in the heaviest swells and fiercest storms that the tempestuous North Sea brings their way.
These floating wind turbines can adapt when the wind and sea conditions. In strong winds the tower "heels" or leans away from the wind.
A network of pumps and valves shift liquid ballast between the three floating cylinders to rebalance the platform and set the turbine at the ideal angle for the wind.
Below the surface, weighted subsea cables attached to huge anchors make sure the platform is firmly secured to the seabed.
Putting waste avoidance at the top of our priorities means having to deal less with food disposal at the end. Landfills of food waste are a major source of methane gas, which also contributes to climate change.
Key elements of any robust solution will involve more sustainable packaging to ensure food safety along the supply chain. Particularly during transportation, the use of reusable packaging containers (RPCs) could further reduce food loss and waste. Above all, a clear understanding and commitment to the circular economy will be critical for success for the sake of the environment.
Ecologists have been warning for years that the Mar Menor (Lesser Sea) is gradually perishing because of heavy runoff of fertilizer nitrates from nearby farmland. Nitrates in excess amounts can accelerate eutrophication, causing dramatic increases in aquatic plant growth, which in turn affects dissolved oxygen, causing fish to die in large numbers. In fact millions of dead fish and crustaceans have began to wash up on the lagoon's shores.
Now, lawmakers in Spain have voted to award the legal status of a person to the endangered saltwater lagoon. This means that any citizen is now able now appeal to the judiciary in the case of a suspected violation against the lagoon.
Solar-powered tricycles make a lot of business sense for Zimbabwe's small-scale farmers, since transport has always been inadequate in the sparsely populated rural areas of Zimbabwe, where women often had to walk long distances carrying heavy loads on their heads to trade products, which sometimes unfortunately spoilt on the way in the heat.
But the idea of addressing the problem with electric three-wheelers did not catch on quickly, said Shantha Bloemen, who is the director of the company who is assembling the off-road three-wheelers: "It was very lonely when we started," she said. "No one was talking about electric mobility in Africa let alone for rural women."
But after three years, the social enterprise is now planning to more than triple its current fleet of 88 motorised vehicles by the end of 2022, and already operates three solar-powered recharging stations.
